


Others will teach us how to dare

by tigriswolf



Series: Alternate Universe [64]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Bullying, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-13
Updated: 2012-05-13
Packaged: 2017-11-05 07:37:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/403947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigriswolf/pseuds/tigriswolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt sees the sign-up sheet on the bulletin board. Ryerson is out; Schuester’s taking over. Schuester, the teacher who walks by every morning, greets the jocks, nods to Kurt, and keeps going. Blind, oblivious – claims to be such a <i>good guy</i> and never offers Kurt even the appearance of sympathy. </p><p>[Kurt doesn't join New Directions.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Others will teach us how to dare

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Others will teach us how to dare  
> Fandom: Glee  
> Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Matthew Arnold  
> Warnings: AU; mentions of violence and bullying  
> Pairings: Kurt/Blaine  
> Rating: PG  
> Wordcount: 595  
> Point of view: third

Kurt sees the sign-up sheet on the bulletin board. Ryerson is out; Schuester’s taking over. Schuester, the teacher who walks by every morning, greets the jocks, nods to Kurt, and keeps going. Blind, oblivious – claims to be such a _good guy_ and never offers Kurt even the appearance of sympathy. 

Kurt likes to sing. But Rachel Berry’s name is on the sheet, and she’s even lower on the totem pole of McKinley than Kurt is, and she’s an attention-hog to boot. 

Kurt goes home and makes a list of his interests. It includes French (for his mom), theater, singing, music, Broadway, fashion, designing outfits, German (for the grandparents who died when he was a baby), The Sound of Music, writing (the usual angsty poetry of outcasts, lyrics that are actually halfway decent, short stories, and a screenplay, so far), and New York City. 

So. He stares at the list and wonders what to do. To survive, he needs to not stand out. To thrive, he needs a creative outlet.

Does he want to survive or thrive?

.

Kurt never puts his name on New Directions’ sign-up sheet. He does join the French Club, and he focuses on writing and designing and schoolwork. He keeps his head down, dresses how he likes, and joins the Cheerios as a junior, as Coach Sylvester’s pet singer. 

No one dares mess with him while wearing the Cheerio uniform because Coach protects her own. They win Nationals, even though the three glee club girls on the team quit at the last minute.

He puts down Coach Sylvester as a reference when he applies to every college in New York.

His dad and Coach are the only people he tells when every school sends back an acceptance letter.

Kurt chooses NYU and never looks back.

.

During his first semester at Parsons for an MFA, Kurt goes to a bar with some acquaintances. He’s been learning how to make friends, since leaving Ohio, and while he hasn’t found any lasting ones yet, acquaintances to bitch about professors and classes with are nice. 

The bar has live entertainment. Kurt gives him a glance, a cute guy with wild hair and a pleasant voice, then laughs at Terry’s barb about Hutchins, and doesn’t notice when the guy thanks them all and heads out.

He sees the guy again on the way home a week later, and then back at the bar when he goes the next night, after acing a particularly brutal project. This time, he listens to the music. 

This time, he catches the guy’s eye and invites him to the next stool over when the guy’s set is done. 

.

Blaine has the best laugh. And he’s from Ohio, too. Lived an hour and a half away from Kurt for eighteen years, and now they’ve met in New York. It’s like fate or something.

.

Kurt doesn’t often think about McKinley. He and Blaine share horror stories about high-school, and Blaine wins hands-down. Kurt may have been tossed into dumpsters and against lockers, but he was never beaten into the ground. None of his bones were ever broken.

McKinley is the past. Kurt survived. He survived, and he’s in New York, and a beautiful boy is smiling at him. 

“Go to dinner with me?” he asks, trailing one fingertip along the back of Blaine’s hand.

Blaine nods, ducking his head a little.

.

Kurt’s on the road to all of his dreams, holding Blaine’s hand, and they’re out of tiny little Ohio towns, standing in the bright lights, and it’s all Kurt has ever wanted.


End file.
